Entrance to the social project.
One of the major benefits about living in Connection Rio is that there are always people to drill with. Unfortunately, no one likes to drill with a white belt… except maybe my friend Moz. Well, I doubt he likes it, but he deals with me. My other good friend, he isn’t having any of this white belt drilling business! The feeling is mutual though, no one likes to train with white belts and I hate drilling with the higher belts because… well, because I don’t like to look like a twat in front of everyone (Twat: that’s the queen’s English for stupid apparently)!
Ferry ride over to the island
Well I’ve finally found the solution to my drilling fears: experimenting with small children. For the last three months I’ve been going to the social project Arte e Libertade and choking out 12 year olds. Now that might sound messed up, but I don’t feel bad because:
- .I just started being able to choke them out
- I said I was choking out 12 year old because the 14 and 15 year olds are choking ME out (in my defense, they’re big 15 year olds)!
So my new form of drilling positions is choking out children.
Beside the readily available supply of children to choke, the project has had an amazing impact on my life and the life of the students that attend classes there.
This would be one of the kids that I am NOT choking out.
Insert spiel about social project:
I started going to the social project in late October after being invited by Perninha, a brown belt that trains at Gordo BJJ (he is the one that is teaching me all these chokes to use on children). I guess after watching me get smashed by all of the bigger people at the academy, he took pity on me and brought me to the island so I would have smaller training partners. The social project has two different children’s classes depending on age, a small Muay Thai class, and then adults Jiu Jitsu. Apart from Perninha the only other person working on at the project is Eduardo Dias, or Tico as we all call him. He is the one that founded the project and it is actually located in his grandmother’s house.
Eduardo Dias AKA Tico
Founder of Projeto Arte e Libertade
When I lived in Barra da Tijuca, the social project Arte e Libertade (art and freedom) wasn’t that far away. Now that I live in Ipanema getting to Gigoia island requires me to take a bus over a mountain, walk down to the Passerala of Barra, and then take a short ferry ride (honestly why there isn’t a bridge to the island is beyond me). When I originally moved to Ipanema, I thought it would be a pain in the ass to come back to Barra two days a week. It turns out, going to the project has been one of the most stable things in my life since I’ve been in Brasil and it’s totally worth the effort it takes to get there.
Perninha's son in competition
What do I mean by stable? Living in the Connection Rio house was an amazing experience that I wouldn’t change for anything, but no matter how great it is, it’s still a hostel. That means that people are coming and going. You meet great friends that are here for a couple of weeks… some of them like Martin from Ireland you can convince to change their flights and stay with you longer, but sooner or later everyone you meet will go home to their respective countries halfway around the world. There are only four people who I’ve met in the Connection Rio house that are actually LIVING in Brasil. These people are the only other consistent thing in my life along with the social project.
Mateo leading the warm up
The project is also one of the only stable things in the lives of many of the children there. I realized this the other day when Perninha, for the first time EVER, arrived 15 minutes late. There were four kids there and complete chaos. Instead of acting like their normal sweet and disciplined selves, they were running around everywhere practicing some twisted mix of Muay Thai, Jiu Jitsu, and what should have been their warm up, while I sat and watched. It definitely occurred to me that I should make them do their normal warm ups, but trying to reign in the level of chaos that I was witnessing with my limited Portuguese was not an appealing idea. I mean, the word for warm up itself is hard to say (I have since been told that I need to learn to run the warm up).
At the mere sight of Perninha arriving (via Jet Ski I believe), they attempted to get in formation. Perninha is very strict. Some BJJ schools are less formal, Gordo BJJ is not one of them. Students line up at the beginning of class according to belt level in rows of three with the center student standing on the line that runs down the mats. Anyone that comes late forms at the end of the line regardless of their belt level. When entering the project, students are expected to bow onto the mats and greet the instructors and their peers in order of belt level. During class students are expected to pay attention and not have side conversations, that goes for the kids that come to watch class as well.
Perninha and his son Diego
In addition to following the rules of the gym, Tico and Perninha are always reinforcing the fact that they need to listen to their parents, wash and take care of their own uniforms, do well in school, and stay away from dangerous places or situations around Rio (i.e. a skate park by the beach where a lot of girls were being assaulted). In short, they are providing a lot of structure and values to children who aren’t always getting it at home (as well as teaching them cool ways to choke people).
The results have been amazing. The social project has one an amazing competition team and one of the largest amount of female fighters that I’ve ever seen at one gym. Not only do the kids go to competitions to support each other but their family members and other people from the community are also making a point to go out and support the team.
Girls @ competition showing off their nails that are painted
red and black for Gordo BJJ
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